Along with Birra Almeida (or Mestre Accordeon), Cassio Martinho (or Mestre Ra), and Sue Ellen Einaren (or Mestra Suelly), a dozen students drilled holes, built walls and painted murals to build the Capoeira Arts Cafe in 1997. Today, the school has over 300 active students, ages 3-52, for whom the space is as much a home as it is a school.

Mestres Accordeon, Suelly, and Ra, along with Capoeiristas Darcy Forester and Erin Braza, decribe how they transformed the Capoeira Arts Cafe, and how it in turn, transformed their lives > PLAY MOVIE

Located in downtown Berkeley, the school/cafe offers five to nine hours of instruction per day. Students pay 80 dollars per month to become members of the United Capoeira Association, and are able to take unlimited classes. Individual classes are $15 each.

The school's building will change hands in five years, and although the Capoeira Arts Cafe is a coveted living art project in Berkeley, Martinho says they're "future is uncertain."


>LINKS
Capoeira Arts Cafe's Official Website
Capoeira Angola Center
Planet Capoeira